


You Gonna Be Alright?

by ancestrallizard



Series: Picture a young boy in pieces [3]
Category: Shin Megami Tensei Series, 真女神転生IV FINAL | Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Genre: Fluff, Gen, some mild violence in the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 11:32:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8977972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancestrallizard/pseuds/ancestrallizard
Summary: Hallelujah checks up on Kite after the fight with Adramelech





	

**Author's Note:**

> Features my Nanashi, named Kite, who as a byproduct of his possession needs to eat demons to regenerate himself

As Adramelech blocked their group’s path as they tried to limp out of Tsukiji Konganji, Flynn safely in tow, Asahi and Kite stepped out to fight him alone. Hallelujah thought that he would have pitied the demon if they were anyone else. 

He’d thoughtlessly asked their leader a day and a half before about how he’d come to be possessed by Dagda. He’d immediately regretted it as he saw how it unearthed something raw and painful in Kite’s expression that had never been truly buried. Still, their leader answered him. He told him in flat, clipped sentences about the demon that attacked him and Asahi, of how he had burned both their mentor and their friend alive, killed Kite, and left an angry burn scar on Asahi’s hand that twisted up and around her forearm like a parasitic vine. 

Hallelujah saw that same scar flex as Asahi grasped and withdrew her sword, iron gaze fixed on the demon. Kite held no weapon, though he was by no means unarmed. As a result of what must have been Dagda’s influence, he carried immense physical strength, far more than his small frame should naturally be capable of. He’d seen their leader tear enemies to pieces with his bare hands. As Kite passed by him like a vengeful spirit, his eyes were missing the otherworldly glow that signaled that the knowledge god was directing his actions. Kite walked forward with empty hands and eyes full of hate entirely of his own free will. 

The siblings stood unwavering before Adramelech though the demon towered over both of them, his iridescent tail feathers fanned out to make himself look even more massive. He stooped, equine face sneering as he said, “I’m going to burn you both to a crisp, just like your two-“

Kite’s arm swiped out faster than Hallelujah could see. Fingernails that were more like claws connected with the demon’s snout with a sharp crack that echoed through the stone courtyard, followed by the distant impact of something hitting the ground with a heavy thud. Adramelech stared down at Kite wide-eyed, his tongue hanging bloody and loose from where his lower jaw had just been ripped away. At some unseen signal, he summoned flames to his palms and feathers, so hot they distorted the air, just as Asahi and Kite summoned their demons. The duel began in earnest. The rest of their group rushed forward to help while Hallelujah stayed behind to support and guard the Champion. 

The others provided support, but the majority of the battle was fought between Adramelech and the two hunters. They worked as a unit with almost no regard for their own safety. Hallelujah was compelled to abandon the injured Champion at his side to help his friends every time the demon’s fires came too close to someone or when they actually connected with Kite, which happened far more than it should have – he kept using his body to shield his teammates. The stench of burnt flesh in Hallelujah’s oversensitive nose almost made him sick.

Adramelech didn’t stand a chance against Kite and Asahi’s combined rage. Adramelech was bloodied, exhausted, and clearly on his last legs when he made his final desperate move. The demon sent a blast of all his remaining power directly at Kite, a wave of flames so intense they burned white and Hallelujah felt the heat of it on his face. 

The blast knocked their leader to the ground. Hallelujah almost ran to him then. He knew that the god that possessed him also kept him alive, but what if couldn’t resist everything? what if this could actually kill him?

Adramelech slumped before Kite’s fallen form, and slowly turned his battle-ravaged face toward Flynn and Hallelujah. Hallelujah felt his muscles start to lock up and his hair stand on end, but he pushed down terror and prepared to fight. Before the demon took more than one step however, he stopped.

A wet, rattling sound wheezed from his torn windpipe before he crumpled to the ground, Asahi’s sword buried in the back of his skull. That, coupled with all the other damage, finally pushed the demon past his limits; Adramelech did not rise again. 

She withdrew her sword and ran to help her brother, though not before spitting on the demon’s disintegrating corpse first. Hallelujah went to rejoin the team, Champion in tow.

Kite was fine, though not unscathed. In addition to some painful looking burns and scrapes, Adramelech’s final attack had left his forearm blackened and burned down to bone. Any mortal human would have to have it amputated, but it didn’t seem to faze him at all. As he looked over the to others and asked if they were hurt, even Hallelujah, he paid no mind to the charred flesh that hung limp at his side.

After mutual thanks and well-wishes were given, they separated from Flynn and Isabeau and began the journey back to Kinshicho. 

There was a camaraderie tying them all together after the fight that Hallelujah hadn’t expected. It warmed him from the inside out and gave him confidence in both himself and the allies he’d fought alongside, even Gaston, despite him being, well, Gaston. the high spirits had passed over two of their number though, the two people Hallelujah thought would have been feeling the best out of all of them.

Kite and Asahi hadn’t spoken a word to the others, or even each other at all after they left Tsukiji Konganji. He wanted to say something to either of them, but he needed to keep his attention on their surroundings and the road ahead. They were all still exhausted from the fight. One successful ambush, even by lesser demons, would pose a serious threat.

His vigilance was soon proven correct. As they deliberated on how to get around a river of foul-smelling poison breaking through the asphalt, a pack of five demons exploded out of an adjacent shuttered storefront and attacked. Still, they were a good team, even when sore and limping from other fights. They killed and chased them off without anyone getting too hurt.

Hallelujah watched from a distance as Nozomi holstered her gun and went up to Asahi as the last of the stragglers scampered away. She nudged the hunter’s arm. “How are you feeling?” 

She was obviously not asking about demons they’d just fought. Asahi sighed as she wrapped her arms around and traced the faded burns on her upper arm. She looked like she’d aged decades in the days Hallelujah had known her, and he was inexplicably reminded of his mother’s face. “I…I don’t know.”

Her face and body language signaled utter defeat, and he expected that Kite probably looked about the same. Expected, because their leader was conspicuously absent.

“Hey, where’s Kite?” he asked.

Toki spoke up from beside him (and he barely stopped himself from jumping away in surprise – he hadn’t even heard her approach.) “He went after the other surviving demon.”

Kite was invulnerable of course, but as a general rule you didn’t leave someone alone above ground. “Maybe someone should make sure he’s ok?”

The young assassin straightened, focusing her eyes and stance. “I can retrieve him.” 

There was intensity in everything Toki did, whether it be battle or talking with others, and it was especially apparent whenever she interacted with Kite. He’d seen before how Kite leaned away and almost shrunk down when she crowded too close and her attention and compliments became too much. It happened enough times for him to think that sending her alone after Kite might not be the best idea.

“Actually,” Nozomi, who’d apparently left Asahi’s side to join them, cut in before Hallelujah had said anything, “Kite’s probably fine, but I think he’d want someone to watch out for Asahi while he’s gone.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Toki nodded and ran nearly silently to Asahi’s side. The young hunter had wandered away to stand with Gaston, both not really talking or looking at each other. She said something to Asahi, and the hunter’s stance seemed to relax a bit as she said something in reply. They weren’t fighting at least. 

Nozomi watched them for a second before turning to Hallelujah and waving him off. “You and Kite catch up to us when you can, we’ll be fine.”

He nodded at her in thanks and asked Toki where she last saw Kite go before he left. 

He ducked down a side street perpendicular to the main street they’d all been walking. The area had never been repurposed and inhabited like some of the buildings and storefronts they’d passed, and due to a combination of irreparable street damage, an offshoot of the river of poison, and piles of rusted vehicles and refuse, what could have been maze was cut down into a single corridor. A nasty, dimly lit, dangerous corridor that filled Hallelujah with more and more dread with each step he took. 

The hallway finally ended in a narrow, trash-strewn alley enclosed by boarded up doors and windows. Hallelujah stood on the precipice and wrinkled his nose at the smell. Some demon had apparently been living there for some time. Signs of a struggle were obvious; there were deep gouges in the pavement, and the wooden planks on a narrow window had been broken in two like something had been slammed against it.

As if on cue a snap echoed sharply off the brick and cement walls of the alley, not unlike the sound Adramelech’s jaw made when it was ripped from his head. There was a shape moving at the very end of the alleyway, crouched down with its back to Hallelujah. By the motion of the shoulders it was clumsily pulling at something, and going by the new crunching sound it had apparently decided to use its teeth on it. 

Hallelujah recognized the torn, stained fabric on its shoulder as Kite’s jumpsuit. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew what their leader was eating, and when he saw the forearm of one of demons that had attacked them sprawled limply beside Kite his suspicion was confirmed. Hallelujah turned away as quietly as possible and leaned against the wall outside the alley. He stared up at the domed ceiling, feeling guilt and shame for seeing something he wasn’t supposed to twisting in his chest.

No one had told him about the specifics of Kite’s possession by the knowledge god, but he hadn’t needed to be told. He’d seen firsthand Kite’s strength, and how he was kept alive through injuries that would kill both mortals and demons alike. He also saw how their leader frequently disappeared after many of their skirmishes with wild demons and how he always came back with his fresh wounds all but vanished. As he tried to block out the gory sounds from the alley in the present, he finally knew how exactly he healed himself.

The sounds from the alleyway stopped. Hallelujah held back from immediately returning, unsure if Kite wanted clean himself up or anything before he saw him. He wanted to be courteous, but he had no idea what to do in his situation. He sympathized and related to a missing parent or a parent who had passed away, but being turned into magic zombie was a bit beyond his field of reference.

Waiting frayed at his nerves though, as imaginary disaster after imaginary disaster played out in his head. What if something was wrong? And Kite was immobile because of it and couldn’t call out for help?

Spurred by phantom catastrophes Hallelujah rounded the corner to rush down the alley, only to stop short after nearly colliding with Kite.

Their leader didn’t look like he was in any sort of peril. In fact, he looked better than when Hallelujah saw him last. The singes on his face and hands were gone, and the terrible burn on his arm had closed itself, with not so much as a blemish to show the terrible wound that was there before. His eyes held no sign of the toxic glow that signaled that he was actively possessed. There were smudges of something dark red around his mouth, though.

Kite blinked at him in surprise before his expression morphed into something closed off and guarded.

Hallelujah coughed a bit to clear his throat, though he wasn’t sure why he did. “Um. Hey.”

Kite looked somewhere off to the side instead of directly at Hallelujah. His newly healed hands were curled into fists at his sides. “So, you saw me..?”

Hallelujah could have lied and asked him what was he talking about, that he hadn’t seen or heard anything. But if someone found out about Hallelujah’s own secret, he’d want them to come clean. “Yeah.”

Kite’s entire body slumped as he took at step back as if to leave, and Hallelujah rushed to add, “But it’s okay! Really! It doesn’t change at all what I think of you.”

Now Kite was looking at him like he’d said something incredibly foolish. “You don’t have to lie to me.”

Hallelujah hated how flat and defeated his voice sounded. “I’m not lying, though.” He took a breath of stale air and centered his thoughts. It was imperative he didn’t get flustered and ramble as he was prone to do. He tried to think of what he would want to hear if Kite or any of others learned of him being half demon (which, if he had his way, none of them would find out, ever). 

He reached out to touch Kite’s shoulder, determinedly ignoring the sight of his own black fingernails that stayed thick and sharp no matter how much he tried to file down, but Kite flinched away. He let his hand fall and spoke anyway.

“You’re still the same person I’ve known the past few days.“ Hallelujah started slowly and uncertainly, but he picked up speed as he found some confidence. “And just because I know this about you now, it doesn’t change anything, not what matters. You’re still the same amazing fighter, still the same person who looks out for all us, even more than yourself. You’re still my…still our, Leader.”

He did not expect the earnestness of his own reply and going by the look on Kite’s face, he hadn’t been expecting it either. His eyes were wide, and Hallelujah had a feeling he might have blushed if he had any circulation. But he didn’t say anything, and the longer the silence stretched the more vulnerable Hallelujah felt. He regretted not listening to the small voice in the back of his head that always told him to keep to himself and away from others, before they found out what he was and chased him away or worse.

Kite finally spoke only to ask, “Wait, what’re you doing here?” 

“I wanted to make sure you weren’t alone. You seemed, I don’t know, sort of down after Adramelech.”

And the surprise and beginnings of what may have been happiness on Kite’s face disappeared at the mention of the demon. He became as shuttered off as he was before. Hallelujah cursed his choice of words. “I didn’t know if you wanted to talk or anything-“

“I don’t.” He cut him off with finality, and began the walk back down the corridor that would lead back to their group. Hallelujah followed, his heart in his throat.

Before long Kite stopped and said again, not quite looking at him, “But, thanks. For coming to check up on me.”

“No problem, Leader.” He was just relieved he hadn’t stepped too far. 

Strands of Kite’s hair fell askew as he tilted his head, like he was listening to something Hallelujah couldn’t hear. He said after a few moments, “You know that if there was anything you wanted to tell me, you could, right?”

Hallelujah’s body went cold, and he had to fight down the old instinct to bolt before Kite put two-and-two together and inevitably turned on him. “W-What do you mean?”

But he only shook his head like he was trying to shake a fly away. “Nevermind, just something Dagda said. I shouldn’t listen to him. Just know that we’re friends, okay?”

Then Kite smiled at him. His canines ended in sharp points, though not as sharp as Hallelujah’s, and his dark green eyes crinkled at corners. It was the first time Hallelujah had ever seen him smile. He made sure to keep his disguise up as a blush burned across his face– it tended to slip when he got flustered. Hallelujah’s stomach fluttered in a way that made him feel sort of sick, but in a good way?

Whatever the weird feeling was, he absolutely blamed it for what he said next. 

“I don’t know if you know this already, but the Ashura-Kai run arcades pretty much all over Tokyo. The best ones are in Shinjuku. Members get in free with a guest so I thought, maybe when all this is over you’d like to go there with me sometime?”

The look of confusion on Kite’s face was not unlike the face of a puppy trying to figure something out. “You just saw me eat a corpse and now you’re asking me out on a date?”

Now he was almost sure his disguise was breaking, he could almost feel his eyes start to turn their undisguised color. Hallelujah stuttered, “It’s not-I mean, we’d just be hanging out, just a couple of guys, y’know? Not a date.”

His voice cracked adolescently on the word ‘date’. To Kite’s credit, he didn’t look like he was about to make fun of him but that didn’t make Hallelujah feel any better. He ducked his head down to glare at the pavement, willing the disguise back into eyes. He peeked at his friend from the corner of his eye when he was sure the disguise was back in place, and saw Kite’s lips were twitching like he was going to start laughing. He’d gone so far already, he might go all the way with it. “Unless you wouldn’t mind it being a date..?”

Kite shoved his shoulder playfully with his own. “Yeah, a date’s good.” He smiled again, though this time it was something much closer to a smirk. “You better get ready to lose, though, I won’t go easy on you.”

Hallelujah shoved him right back. He felt giddy, and so light he wouldn’t be surprised if he started floating away and hit his head on the dome. “What makes you think I’d loose? I’ve left a lot of high scores there, I’d bet money on me winning more games than you.”

But instead of firing back another taunt like Hallelujah expected, Kite just – stopped. He was frozen in place, his face drained of all expression. His eyes, that had been alight at edges in amusement moments before had become dull and blank.

“Kite?”

His hand twitched a bit but he made no other sign that he had even heard him. A poisonous green light kindled and grew in his eyes, until their sickly harsh light reflected off pale skin of his cheeks. 

Dagda twisted Kite’s face into a look of bored disgust, and made him walk faster back down the path, leaving Hallelujah behind. 

He should have expected that, but he still felt lucky to get as much time with Kite as he did. Enough for him to try to connect with Kite, and for Kite try to connect with him too. Enough to ask about the arcade. Hallelujah held fast to his stubborn, probably misguided optimism that there would be a day when this was all over, and Kite could be his own person again, when they could go out as friends or maybe more. 

He ran to catch up with him. They were friends. Even if that day never came, he’d try to be there for him regardless.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to check out my tumblr, and send me a message or IM or whatever: ancestrallizard.tumblr.com.  
> I like talking about smt a bunch.


End file.
